Community colleges throughout greater Los Angeles have become adept at preparing students for high-growth industries, but the training for middle-skill jobs is lagging. And if the pace isn’t stepped up soon, 42 percent of the region’s demand for those specific, high-demand occupations will remain unmet over the next five years.

The report says there are opportunities for greater industry alignment to grow career education programs that provide students with the skills they need to snag well-paying, middle-skill jobs.

20 middle-skill occupations

The “L.A. and Orange County Community Colleges: Powering Economic Opportunity” study pinpoints 20 middle-skill occupations which will be in high demand in the next five years for which community colleges offer degree and/or certificate programs. Those jobs, the report said, will help drive the region’s economy, contribute to increased prosperity and improve standards of living in the L.A. Basin, which includes Los Angeles and Orange counties.

The occupations that fall under that umbrella range from registered nurses, graphic designers and, computer-user support specialists, to fashion designers, electricians and audio and video equipment technicians, among others.

Van Ton-Quinlivan, vice chancellor of Workforce and Digital Futures of the California Community Colleges, said the schools offer a variety of useful training programs. But they are always looking to be better aligned with the needs of today’s workforce.

“The more that employers engage to speak to the skill sets they need, the better our colleges can deliver to what they want,” Ton-Quinlivan said in a statement. “Our 200-plus career education programs train for occupations in health care, cybersecurity, bioscience, transportation, advanced manufacturing, information, computer technology and more.”

By the numbers …

The report includes projected openings in each of the 20 middle-skill occupations it studied.

Registered nursing will see the biggest bump, with a projected 18,470 jobs added by 2021, and nursing assistants will add 6,540 additional jobs. Other occupations projected to post significant gains include bookkeeping, accounting and auditing clerks (3,920), computer-user support specialists (3,880), electricians (2,990) and graphic designers (2,410), among others.

“It’s a highly technical industry,” she said. “It’s no longer based on sewing and cutting … or even designing. A pattern maker earns $130,000 a year. You have to know how to do a spec sheet for someone in China who is working in meters. It’s all computerized. I would call it ‘new skills.’ ”

The median hourly wage for registered nurses in L.A. County was nearly $48 an hour last year, the report said, while nurses in Orange County earned a median wage of $43.20 an hour. Computer-user support specialists in L.A. County earned $26.93 an hour and their counterparts in Orange County earned a median wage of $27.69 an hour.

A curriculum/employment mismatch

Ronen Olshansky, co-founder and CEO of Cross Campus, which has offers shared workspace facilities in Pasadena, Santa Monica, downtown Los Angeles and the South Bay, admitted that the projected 42 percent shortfall for middle-skill workers is eye-opening. But not necessarily surprising.

“I wouldn’t argue with the idea that there is a mismatch of supply and demand today,” he said. “The question becomes where does the supply of workers come from? The labor markets are fairly flexible today today with millennials who are willing and excited to move to L.A. for jobs … but it comes back to the whole housing crisis.”

And the crisis is real — so real that Gov. Jerry Brown just signed 15 bills aimed at boosting California’s supply of affordable housing.

‘Aging in place’

The report notes that the Los Angeles Basin is also hampered by a population that is rapidly “aging in place.” The region’s median age rose from 33 in 2000 to 37 in 2016, with residents aged 55 and older now making up more than a quarter of the region’s population. That trend will continue to accelerate for the next few decades.

Many of the region’s fastest growing positions that have been created through the economic recovery are low-wage, low-skilled jobs like cashiers, waiters and waitresses, home health care workers and others involved in food preparation.

The Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce is urging community colleges and the region’s post-secondary educational institutions to work together with the business community to ensure that students are prepared for needed middle-skill jobs.

Kevin Smith handles business news and editing for the Southern California News Group, which includes 11 newspapers, websites and social media channels. He covers everything from employment, technology and housing to retail, corporate mergers and business-based apps. Kevin often writes stories that highlight the local impact of trends occurring nationwide. And the focus is always to shed light on why those issues matter to readers in Southern California.

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